Time to get back and writing some more about LOST. I had written my thoughts about either episode 4.4 or 4.5, twice, and both times they ended up getting erased, so I kind of gave up on those. Then, work has been totally kicking my ass as of late, so I haven't been able to find the time to write much, which is unfortunate. But, I did want to throw out some thoughts from last week's episode before tomorrow. I'm also going to get up a post covering the rest of my re-watch of Season 2, which I'm almost done with, since there were a number of very interesting parallels involving Ben then and Ben now.

-I like flashback episodes when they are productive and give us something to work with. As I've mentioned about Season 2, some of the flashbacks for characters the second time around ended up being mostly worthless and did nothing to progress the story of the character or the show (See: Hurley and the skinny kid from Road Trip showing us that Hurley doesn't like change, or Rose and Bernard using up an entire episode to tell us that Rose has cancer and the island has cured it, like they couldn't have just done that in five minutes). The flash-forwards are a good change of pace, and open up a whole new avenue that we knew nothing about. However, variety is the spice of life (Or so "they" say), and there are currently a number of characters on the show (Juliette, Ben, the freighter people) that we know little-to-nothing about as far as their backstory goes, which means flashback episodes are in order.

The Juliette story was helpful, because while we know how she got to the island, we don't know a whole lot about her on the island, outside of not doing a good job of preventing pregnant women from dying (ouch, harsh). One of the things LOST loves to do, and I enjoy watching, is recapping something that happened in the past from a different view. Here, we were able to get a little bit more information about what the Others did after the crash. We already knew that Ben immediately sent Goodwin and Ethan out to spy, but now we learned that Ben sent Goodwin out on purpose so that he would stay away from his woman (I don't think killing him was his initial intention, but something he realized was an option later on). It makes me wonder if Ethan did something to draw Ben's ire as well (He did seem to be their only doctor/surgeon, right?).

-Not that Jack needs much more of a reason to hate Ben, but Juliette getting in the middle of the two of them could make for an interesting confrontation down the road. Ben is normally a pretty level-headed calculating guy, but introducing someone like Juliette in to the equation might get him a little off his keel.

-Who does Juliette look just like? Was Ben involved with someone who got pregnant and died? Is that his motivation for bringing Juliette to the island?

-Just as a bit of storyline continuity (Because I love shows that make a point of something and then reinforce that seasons later), Ben told Juliette that Goodwin was staying with the tail section because he thought Ana Lucia might be a good person to bring on. Now, since you never know with Ben, you'd be likely to pass this off as a lie, and it very well could be. However, something to keep in mind, when Ben was captured in Season 2 and was talking to Ana Lucia, he mentioned to her that Goodwin wanted her to join the Others, and about how he was wrong about her. Again, it could still be a lie, but if it is, Ben's pretty consistent about the whole thing. Thought that was neat.

-Juliette's therapist: Was she really there? Or was this some incarnation of Jacob or the smoke monster? Ben clearly had something to do with this, because Juliette was right, he knew how to get to her, she was going to kill Faraday and Lewis thinking they were trying to kill everyone instead of save them. But how does Ben have the ability to do that?

-Kate's a psycho. You know when Jack is acting more rationally than you are (Jack: I'll take their word for it) then you have problems.

-Juliette's pretty hot. This isn't exactly news, just thought it was worth mentioning.

-I love that Jack is being is usual spastic self about Faraday and Lewis taking off in the middle of the night, and Jin comes through as the voice of reason about how they're supposed to be 'friends'. Eat it, Jack.

-Alright, so Charles Widmore has officially been revealed as the person in charge of this 'expedition' by our four freighter friends. How much does he know about the island? He clearly knows about the power station and its capabilities, he even had some kind of a crude map for Faraday to follow. What is his ultimate plan for Ben?

-Speaking of Ben, I think his reveal of Widmore was said in truth. However, I don't believe for a second that it was his 'only' barganing chip against Locke. I'm not sure I believe that Widmore's sole interest in this island is exploitation. It certainly could be, he's very clearly a money-driven individual, but the whole power station incident makes it seem like he knows a hell of a lot about the island. Maybe there is some ulterior motive going on there. I still want to know how he picked the four (Well, five including Naomi) people to go on this mission to the island.

-Is Locke ever going to smarten up and stop letting Ben completely screw him over? Ben did nothing but play mind games with Locke when he was first captured back in the hatch, and all he's doing now is playing more mind games, and Locke's just eating it all up. Any time Ben can sense he's losing Locke's interest he just slips him a little bit of vague information or answers one of his questions, and Locke just keeps following him around like a little puppy. Now he's managed to bargain his way out of captivity by giving Locke some information along with convincing him that his people have no interest in him any longer. It just amazes me that Locke is so desperate to know more about this island, basically to be what Ben is, that he constantly lets Ben get the best of him. Of course, as we've seen with his father, that tends to be one of his weaknesses.

-Any guesses on who Ben's man on the boat is? People say Michael, but I don't think that works. Michael was on the plane, I'd be willing to bet he's too recognizable. If the ship really did come from Widmore, and if Widmore faked the plane crash (Certainly seems feasible considering his motives and resources), then putting a survivor on the ship as a spy doesn't seem very discreet. It certainly appears to be someone we are already familiar with, and possibly someone Locke is familiar with. An older Walt? I know Walt was a survivor, but who knows what's going on with that kid as far as time goes, and if he is older, he becomes much less recognizable. Christian Shepard? Why not, the guy seems to be intertwined in many stories, and with this show I hardly consider death to be a huge road block. Besides, didn't we already see him walking and talking in the first season, not to mention in Jacob's cabin? Is it that much of a stretch to think he might be alive? An island that can cure cancer and get people to walk again, why can't it bring someone back to life? I honestly have no idea who it is, just throwing some ideas out there.

I think those are all my thoughts for this week. Our final member of the six is showing up this week (See, told you Aaron counted), and I'm actually going to guess it's Locke. I know that doesn't make much sense, since no one wants to stay on the island more than Locke, but I feel like there has to be some significance to these characters getting off the island, and honestly, who cares all that much if Jin or Sun or Rose or Bernard get off the island? They don't play a significant role in the LOST story, so them getting off the island just doesn't seem very interesting. I guess it could be Sawyer, but I'm a little surprised that Sawyer would leave and in two Kate/Jack flash-forwards he hasn't even been a topic of conversation (Well, unless he's in the casket). But who knows, if this show is anything it's unpredictable.